A new measure of excessive parental worries about children's health: Development of the Health Anxiety by Proxy Scale (HAPYS). (1st October 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Ingeman, Katrine; Frostholm, Lisbeth; Frydendal, Ditte Hoffmann; Wright, Kristi D.; Lockhart, Elaine; Garralda, M. Elena; Kangas, Maria; Rask, Charlotte Ulrikka
• Is Part Of: Nordic journal of psychiatry. Volume 75:Number 7(2021)
• Page Start: 523
• Page End: 531
• Publication Date: 2021-10-01
• Subjects: Measurement -- psychological assessment -- health anxiety -- parents; Psychopharmacology -- Periodicals; Psychotherapy -- Periodicals; Psychiatry -- Periodicals; Psychiatry -- Scandinavia -- Periodicals; 616.89
• DOI: 10.1080/08039488.2021.1900389
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0803-9488

Abstract

Abstract: Objective: Health anxiety by proxy is a newly introduced term to describe parents' experience of excessive and unpleasant worries about their child's health. This article describes the development of a new measure, the Health Anxiety by Proxy Scale (HAPYS), for systematic assessment of health anxiety by proxy. Method: The development of the HAPYS was performed over three phases. (1) Patients clinically assessed to have health anxiety by proxy participated in semi-structured interviews to elaborate their experience of worries regarding their child's health and their related behaviours, and to examine the face validity of items in an existing questionnaire: 'Illness Worry Scale – parent version'. (2) Based on the findings from Phase 1 the project group and a panel of experts selected and formulated questionnaire items and scoring formats. (3) The HAPYS was pilot-tested twice using cognitive interviewing with healthy parents and parents with health anxiety by proxy followed by further adjustments. Results: The final version of HAPYS consists of 26 items characteristic of health anxiety by proxy and of an impact section with five items. Conclusion: Based on the pilot testing the HAPYS showed good face and content validity. It holds the potential to be a valid questionnaire to help clinicians across health care settings assess parents suffering from health anxiety by proxy.